CACI: No contact from major shareholders over Iraqi prison scandal

Neither the California State Treasurer's Office nor two of the state's largest pension funds has contacted CACI International Inc. to obtain information about its business in Iraq, the company said yesterday.

The Arlington, Va., defense contractor's statement followed a report in The Washington Post last Friday that California State Treasurer Philip Angelides recently sent a letter to the California Public Employees' Retirement System, called Calpers, and California State Teachers' Retirement System, called Calstrs, to raise questions about CACI interrogators performing work for the U.S. military in Iraq.

Together, the two pension funds hold a significant number of CACI shares.

According to the article, Angelides asked the two pension funds to inquire about CACI's training of its interrogators in Iraq, the management controls over the interrogators and the measures it took to ensure its employees conformed with laws. The article also said that CACI said it received a copy of the treasurer's letter but no additional notices from the directors of the funds.

In its statement, CACI said it was aware of the issues raised by the state treasurer, but that it had addressed them in its previous news releases to shareholders, public information releases, conference calls and institutional investor conferences.

The company further said that it had no record of representatives from the treasurer's office, Calpers or Calstrs taking part in its conference calls or the Web casts of the calls or participating in the company's three institutional investor conferences.

"We have cooperated fully with all of the investigations and inquiries being conducted into the Iraq situation. However, the company, to its knowledge, is not the singular 'target' of any investigation as recently suggested by a state official in California," the statement said.

"CACI has cooperated with a number of government organizations as these matters are being reviewed, and CACI will continue to cooperate."

The General Services Administration is investigating CACI for its use of the agency's information technology schedule contract to provide interrogation services to the Army in Iraq.

During a conference call May 27, CACI also said it was under review by the Army's inspector general, the Interior Department's inspector general, the Defense Contract Audit Agency and a military intelligence investigation being led by Maj. Gen. George Fay, Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence, who has conducted an investigation of the Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal.

CACI was mentioned in an Army report issued earlier this year by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led a military investigation on the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison out side Baghdad.

The directors of Calpers are supposed to meet today to discuss the issues raised by Angelides, according to The Washington Post.